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Friday, 30 January 2009

I made myself laugh typing the title of this blog post because we only have a week and a half to write and rehearse the show full stop, so it's not as if they'll be any more weeks of rehearsal to blog about.

And it's been a busy few days, devising and rehearsing Poles Apart in the day and in the evening typing and editing up the day's work to try and make a coherent script and document of our work; as well marking down lighting and sound cues and making a props list.

It's been a very creative time, it's come pretty easy for Mark and I and I seriously think we have a very good show on our hands, I do love how something comes from nothing, how a piece of art rises up from the void. Today we had great fun buying the costumes, which include terrible tracksuits for Act II and nasty-ass Velcro sneakers to go with.

We've also been juggling an extensive PR campaign, with plenty of radio interviews and press interviews, it's good that the show has a media real buzz about it, hopefully that'll sell more tickets for our run. Speaking of which, make sure that if you live near any of these places below, buy a bloody ticket and come and see us.

Sunday, 25 January 2009

Blogging will once again be light but for good reason, as I am now off to begin the rehearsals for the epic tour of Poles Apart. Obviously, I will update when I can on our writing, devising, arguing, wrestling and drinking wine process.

Witness above, the comedy genius of Mark Whiteley and Daniel Hoffmann-Gill in action, in Poland. It would be cool if any readers of Blurred Clarity could come and make it, full tour dates and details on the show are here and the video trailer, in order to wet your appetite, is below. I'll keep you posted people!

An interesting footnote is that two other Presidents have retaken their oaths out of an abundance of caution, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur. Let's hope Obama does far better than either of those two...

It was also amusing to see the small box used for the First Lady to stand on when she holds the Bible being swiftly removed, when it was realised that Michelle Obama, at an Eva-Jane like 5ft 11in, certainly doesn't need it.

Instead of contacting me about it, perhaps using the email address in my profile, or the comment form, they run to their boss, who in turn contacts my employer at the time I wrote the blog post in question. So the boss leans on my ex-boss, who then emails me and asks me to remove the blog or to at least edit it so that the names are changed to protect the guilty (in my humble but honest opinion).

As Dr. Martin Luther King predicted, a black man, a great man, is going to become President today and that is a truly amazing, beautiful and wonderful thing that fills me with so much hope and joy for the world we live in and our shared future.

YES WE CAN!

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Monday, 19 January 2009

As a big fan of Keith Olbermann, I was glad when Hack alerted me to this wonderful piece by him that is an at times overwhelming wall of upsetting information regarding, quite possibly, the worst President of all time (you heard that right Warren G. Harding). We are within touching distance of Bush's passing but this is a timely reminder of the sheer weight of damage he subjected America and the world to.

The chap above, Ron Heather, is a bus driver in Southampton who refused to drive his bus because the aforementioned advert caused him "shock and horror" (please note, not shock and awe, that is reserved for bombing campaigns, not advertising ones) and so upset was he by the "starkness of the advert that implied there was no God" that he had to have the day off from work and have a good lay down.

How weak is his faith and how low is his tolerance to shocking and horrible things?

Unbelievably, his employers indulged this idiotic fit of pique and are doing their best so that he doesn't have to drive a bus with the advert on and will only do so if no others are available. Are they like, the best employers ever? How understanding are they of this man's serious special needs? Doesn't this open the floodgates for train, bus and tram drivers who don't like the adverts on their vehicles, because they might be offended by them and their content to down tools and have a day off?

The nob went on to say, in a vaguely apocalyptic tone:

"This is a public attack on people's faiths. I have a lot of passengers who are over 90 or are seriously ill, and to tell them there is no God seems a bit insensitive, when God is probably all they have left in the world. Faith is a very important thing in people's lives, and I think [the poster] pushes the issue too far."

Full info on the Atheist Bus Campaign can be found here, with further reference here. And don't forget...

Marvellous video of the moment in question is just below, the first one has the row but not the fingering of the mace, which is in the second video (because bizarrely the BBC removed the footage from their website...). It's wonderful to see a man stand up for the people he represents, a true Member of Parliament and do look out for the refusal to sanction John McDonnell which leads to the division and count how many times the Speaker says 'Order' and is roundly ignored.

I do understand that it can all look rather twee and thankfully John McDonnell doesn't go berserk with the mace, which would've made better television no doubt but he would've lost his dignity and the widespread respect his actions have drawn. For the record, he placed the dislodged mace in the empty seat of Dennis Skinner MP, a notoriously wonderful character who is no doubt regretting not being there to join in.

The ceremonial mace itself has a grand history of being used to show disgust with the political process: John Beckett MP (a terrible old fascist) tried to take it back to his office in protest, Michael Heseltine MP famously used it to threaten opposition politicians and swung it about like a club, while Ron Brown MP threw it on the floor.

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert getting Bush in a headlock to make sure the US abstains from the UN Resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza

Bush needed no convincing after Olmert shows him pictures of dead Arab children

Bush then looms behind Condoleezza Rice in order to humiliate her into abstaining from something she was going to support

The world demands it's free motherfucking cupcake!

I've done my level best to not blog on the current conflict in Gaza, mainly because I don't feel I can bring much to the debate in a blog format, when the issue at hand is so immensely complex and one false move can have you labelled an anti-Semite/Zionist.

And posting pictures of dead Arab children is exploitative and crass.

Having said that, my feelings on the issue can be best summed up by the fact that both Israel and the people of Gaza elected really awful people to represent them and they are reaping the dividends of those choices, as the two elements duke it out and the civilians get caught horribly in the middle.

My solution: Israel goes back to the Internationally approved 1967 borders, stops making illegal settlements and takes down the bizarre wall; then (the hardest bit) it has to bite it's tongue as Hamas (or whatever idiotic 'wipe Israel off the face of the map' political party is in charge) tries to provoke them into lowest common denominator battle. If Israel took the moral high ground and did all the things asked of it by the world, Hamas would still attack but then Israel would have the backing of the globe in its destruction. It's a win-win for them but all it takes is a long view and restraint, something Israel has lacked since its inception.

I'm more interested in the weight of power that Israel and Olmert seems to be able to exercise over Bush and his pals.

"When we saw that the Secretary of State, for reasons we did not really understand, wanted to vote in favour of the UN resolution...I looked for President Bush and they told me he was in Philadelphia making a speech. I said, 'I don't care. I have to talk to him now'.

They got him off the podium, brought him to another room and I spoke to him. I told him, 'You can't vote in favour of this resolution.' He said, 'Listen, I don't know about it, I didn't see it, I'm not familiar with the phrasing.' He gave an order to the Secretary of State and she did not vote in favour of it, a resolution she cooked up, phrased, organised and manoeuvred for. She was left pretty shamed and abstained on a resolution she arranged."

The official line from the White House is: "We've seen these press reports and they are inaccurate." So either Olmert is lying and posturing like the corrupt old toad he is, or the White House is lying...again...and again...and again.

It also got me wondering, via reading the Constitution, about the ooze of Christianity into the American political spectrum, brought on by Bush and his cohorts and the subsequent retardation of America via the sheer anti-human nature of evangelical Christianity. These petty mini-tyrants, amateurs and cowards that make up the Christian Right should get out of America (there work is done...) and try to set up a church in Iraq and convert Shia and Sunni Muslims to Christianity.

But that would mean actually putting their life at risk for their faith, just as the Christians in Iraq do.

I think America missed a trick with the Intelligent Design debate, they should offer it in all schools and see natural selection at work right there. All the stupid kids will choose ID and all the ones with brains will go for Darwin. This will leave the stupid children to fill all those jobs vacated by illegal immigrants after some terrible Brownshirt legislation has been passed, they'll eat shitty fast food, smoke and drink. They'll be too illiterate and ignorant to make good choices and will destroy themselves. God will not save them.

I wish the UK has one of these things...and don't throw the Magna Carta in my face, because that just doesn't cut it as a constitution.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

{HOWL} I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed bymadness, starving hysterical naked...who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delightin policecars for committing no crime but theirown wild cooking pederasty and intoxication,who howled on their knees in the subway and weredragged off the roof waving genitals and manu-scriptswho let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintlymotorcyclists, and screamed with joy...who journeyed to Denver, who died in Denver, whocame back to Denver & waited in vain, whowatched over Denver & brooded & loned inDenver and finally went away to find out theTime, & now Denver is lonesome for her heroes...who in humourless protest overturned only one symbolic pingpong table...Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles!

{A SUPERMARKET IN CALIFORNIA} What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whit-man...I saw you, Walt Whitman...Where are we going Walt Whitman?

{AMERICA} America I've given you all and now I'm nothing...America when will we end the human war?Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb...America stop pushing I know what I'm doing...I'm addressing you.Are you going to let your emotional life be run byTime Magazine?...It occurs to me that I am America....America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

{IN THE BAGGAGE ROOM AT GREYHOUND} Farewell ye Greyhound where I suffered so much,

Thursday, 8 January 2009

"Yes, my lover is a washing machine but I've grown tired of dealing with the rejection that humans always present me with. I'd rather have the safety and security of my washing machine romance. At least I know where I stand."

"I'm a massive fan of Lara Croft and when I dress up as her I gain a sense of real empowerment, that transforms me into something more than a just flid in a wheelchair. I become, at last, a sexual creature."

"I'm the only black boy in the school, so to gain acceptance with my peers I have to pretend I'm SpongeBob SquarePants, you know, from the cartoon. It seems to make them more comfortable around me. I suppose because they can see less of my black skin and if my colour and heritage offends them, they can lash out at me safe in the knowledge that I won't get hurt."

"I'm tired of being a muzzled bear. Fucking humans. I hate them. Tonight, I plan to escape and run into the road that runs past my cage and kill myself under the wheels of truck."

(And I know the above picture makes the National look like Hitler's bunker but it was all I could find...)

It came about thanks to being spotted in Zero and then getting cast in a workshop on a new production which is in the pipeline called The Girl Who Kept a Fly as a Pet. This is what is taking up all my time at the moment and it is turning out to be a wonderful experience. I'm working with a small cast of 4 very talented actors and the marvellous writer and a lovely director.

It is all very organic and creative; plenty of play, plenty of fun and a real feeling that in the framework of the working day we can make whatever we want, in whatever form we want and thus, it has become 7 people playing in a room.

Today for example, I got to be a fly pretending to be a chicken pretending to be a rabbit, an irritating man talking about penis soup and a member of the Cultural Revolution cutting off a girl's petit bourgeois plaits. And that was all before lunch...

This is real step forward for me in my career and I get the sense that I am on the cusp of something good, career progression has been constant over the last few years and this is yet another moral boosting step in the right direction; that I'm sure will continue with the tour of Poles Apart...but more on that at a later date...

Sunday, 4 January 2009

Berlin was as riddled with pivotal world history, as it was with bullet holes and shrapnel scars; reminders not only of Allied bombing but also the terrible Battle of Berlin.

And I couldn't help, as we wandered about, seeing the sights, but imagine my grandfather and his father and his father's father playing, living and walking these very same streets we were.

There are perhaps too many highlights to bang on about, the best thing you could do is just visit Berlin itself but the site of Hitler's bunker is one of the stranger and more compelling, whether it be the bizarre mundanity that envelops the place, or the sheer evil that was present here.

Eva-Jane and I debated whether the car park should be marked with something other than the small sign, or whether indeed the small sign was too much of a marker for the final resting place of evil; why is it okay to remember victims as a spur to never letting the thing happen again (having said that, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe reminded me of the stacked up coffins of Srebrenica) but the instigators are erased from history?

Speaking of erased from history, Eva and I went off the beaten track to pay our respects at Garnisonsfriedhof, a neglected military cemetery that contains German war dead from the First and Second World Wars, some of their graves had fresh flowers and candles, some didn't.

It struck me that Germany is a nation that can't celebrate it's war dead but rather has to hide them away, like Hitler's bunker or the elements of architecture destroyed to cover-up the past; Berlin itself has three small man-made hills that surround it, they are made up of the mounds of rubble that Berlin was reduced to.

And then there was the Berlin Wall, looming, long and ominous; slicing the city into an odd shaped half, crappy concrete bits popping up here, there and everywhere, a marker of Communism drawing a line in the sand and a reminder that the idea of building walls never goes out of style...

Of course there was more, the lovely people, the huge array of architecture, the serious lack of jay walking, the great beer and marvellous but heavily pig-based food of which we had our fill. I mean, Currywurst is a fucking brilliant idea.

It felt in someway home, my surname was common (even streets were named after me...) and Eva and I felt that this is a city we could live in if ever London and the UK became too much...or we both got a part in a German soap opera.

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Eva-Jane and I just got back from Berlin, we had a simply wonderful time in a grand city. I can't recommend a visit enough if you've not yet been, will blog on it in depth at a later time but here is a collection of our images...